I have yet to play a number of games that are likely to be on this list: Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Halo Reach etc. But these are the best of the games that I played in a year defined by disappointments (Fable III, Mafia II, and The Force Unleashed 2)
Something about the gameplay just hit all the right spots for me. It made me feel more like a deadly killing machine than any game has in a long time.
It's all about the driving model. I dislike almost everything else about the game: the UI, the career mode, B-spec, etc. But I just spend most of my in arcade mode, and of all the games released this year, this is the one that I play the most. By far. It's also the only game that convinced me to buy $800 worth of peripherals.
Epic.
The combat wasn't great, but I loved the setting. I just wish that I got more opportunity to explore the town during the day. My favourite part of Uncharted 2 was walking through the Tibetan village. I would have loved a similar experience in daytime Bright Falls.
